


Moments Unseen

by jacksparrow589



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, little scenes, more like a series of connected drabbles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:07:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21619612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksparrow589/pseuds/jacksparrow589
Summary: Yet another take on some of the unseen interactions from 3x10, specifically the end. You know the scene. Winifred tells Anne what's happened, Diana tells Gilbert where to find Anne, and Anne's housemates have opinions.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 23
Kudos: 395





	Moments Unseen

"Wait, you really... don't know? Gilbert didn't tell you _anything_?"

"Tell me what?"

Winifred had to pause again and pinch the bridge of her nose. "And here I was under the impression that him telling you was bad enough; this may actually be worse."

Anne blinked curiously, but bit her lip.

Winifred sighed. "He didn't propose. He came to tell me that he couldn't. That he didn't feel strongly enough even to..." She swallowed, fighting tears. "I asked for two weeks before he told anyone so I would be overseas when the news got out. You're sure he told no one?"

Anne shook her head, her heart pounding in her ears at the news. "As far as everyone in Avonlea is concerned—except maybe for Bash, I suppose—you're getting married and going to Paris and Gilbert will be attending the Sorbonne. He didn't say much to confirm it, but he never denied it, either."

Winifred rolled her eyes. "So the boy does know how to apply silence tactfully; he just chose not to." She looked at Anne. "My own honor compels me to tell you that the reason Gilbert has forsaken me is that he is hopelessly in love with you, but is somehow under the impression that his feelings are not returned."

Anne fumbled her parasol. "He _what?!_ "

A sardonic grin twisted Winifred's lips. "This truly takes the cake. It has been plain as day to me for most of the time I have been acquainted with Gilbert that he is utterly bewitched by you. And it doesn't take any great wisdom to see your eyes are only for him. How you two seem to have come to the exact opposite conclusion is beyond me, but I can tell you that you two truly deserve each other. I will let you decide how kindly to take that."

"Winifred... I can see that this hurts you, and I'm so, _so_ sorry your heart got tangled up in this." Anne's sincerity could not be doubted. "But I... I need to... um..."

Winifred nodded, her smile softening just a bit. "Your kindness is appreciated. Be on your way."

Anne turned and marched away, only making it to the gate before she hiked her skirts up indecently high and began to run at a full tilt.

Despite herself, and with her eyes filling from mixed emotions, Winifred couldn't help but laugh. She'd been telling herself for two weeks that she was glad Gilbert had broken it off. Today was the first time she'd meant it.

* * *

"...And worst of all, you callously ignored the letter Anne wrote you even though she told you she _loved_ you!"

"What letter?"

Those two words broke through Diana's rage.

"Diana, _what letter?_ "

It was the desperation in Gilbert's tone that fully dispelled it. She'd known him most of their lives, and even in the most dire situations, he'd never sounded like this. Hope and confusion and despair nearly cracked his voice, and his expression was completely unguarded.

"You never got the letter... How did you never get the letter?! She said she left it on the table, by the water pitcher..."

Gilbert shook his head. "I don't know, but I will promise on everything I hold most dear, I never saw it. If I had..."

"You would have said something," Diana finished.

Gilbert nodded, needing a moment to think. He looked out the window. Charlottetown was coming up fast. "Diana, would you please tell me the address of the boarding house? I have to go make things right. I have to tell her..."

Diana smiled and nodded.

As expected, Gilbert needed only one recitation to get it right, though Diana supposed his prior knowledge of Charlottetown must have helped.

No sooner had the train stopped than was Gilbert off and running, sparing no thought for passengers, pedestrians, or his own luggage. Diana sighed fondly and went to ask her father to get someone to fetch it, as Gilbert was himself was attending to a matter most urgent.

"What could be so urgent that he couldn't wait for his own luggage?" her father asked, astounded.

Beaming ear-to-ear, Diana replied simply, "Anne."

* * *

Anne tearing into the boardinghouse, her hair completely disarrayed and her mind only on frantically packing a trunk to grab the next train back to Avonlea, had not gone unnoticed.

Ruby, Tillie, Jane, and Josie stood curiously in the hall, not confused as to what Anne was doing, but why. Jane had made a vague attempt at asking that Anne hadn’t heard, and Ruby tried to pipe up again when Anne started racing back to the stairs, only to be ignored as well.

The four young women filed downstairs to look out the front windows of the boardinghouse when they heard Anne stop in her tracks and release her suitcase onto the porch. Ruby and Jane clapped their hands to their mouths as Tillie whispered, "What’s Gilbert doing here?"

"Oh my goodness," Jane gasped as Gilbert raised his hand to cup Anne’s cheek, and the four girls stifled shrieks as he proceeded to lean in and kiss Anne like his life depended on it.

"Well..." Josie tried to mutter, but she had to swallow before she could say more. "It would seem he didn’t get engaged after all."

"Not to Winifred, anyway," Tillie agreed.

"I think we’d know if he was engaged to Anne," Jane pointed out.

Ruby let out another quiet squeal that reminded the other three to look out the windows again. They’d missed it, but Ruby was reminded of that day so long ago when Anne had asked if she couldn’t just kiss a boy she liked. _Are you mad?!_ Ruby had asked. It seemed the answer was yes, but love did that to people, she supposed. She wasn’t sure Moody would be so receptive, but perhaps it might be worth taking the risk.

Josie sighed impatiently. "They’re making quite the scene."

Jane let out a breathless chuckle. "I don’t think they really care."

"I don’t think they ever did," Ruby said quietly. It was almost sad, but she’d come to grips with it, and anyway, she had Moody now. With hindsight, it was clear as day how Gilbert had always looked at Anne. He’d never looked at Ruby or anyone else that way, much as she’d wanted to believe he had.

"Is that Diana?" Tillie asked as a young woman in a familiar shade of light blue a lighted from an arriving carriage. The hug between the arrival and Anne made the answer plain.  Her first question answered, Tillie lobbied a second:  " Should we go out and greet her?"

"Maybe after Anne and Gilbert have said goodbye," Josie deadpanned as Gilbert swung himself down from the carriage for a final series of very sound kisses.

When it was clear Gilbert was finally on his way, each of the girls let out a sigh with varying degrees of fondness before Ruby opened the door. Anne’s parents were arriving, but that didn’t mean  they couldn’t interrogate Diana, and so, the young ladies set off across the lawn to do just that.


End file.
